A stuffy nose has kept me home and away from people. What a deal. I feel well enough to be up and about and can even take an autumn walk, but don’t want to share my germs with anyone. Thus home I stay, for what I’m naming cottage-by-the-sea days. Time alone, reading and writing on the couch in the sun.It has been two years since I lived at the cottage. For five winter months, from2009-2014, I spent week days there alone and weekends at home with family and friends.I miss it sometimes, but that was a particular moment in time in my life, and now I have new moments. I still yearn for extended periods alone which the cottage-by-the-sea rhythm provided, but now I have a new rhythm, going to Florence for two weeks every few months. I go to write and be alone, just as I did at the cottage. For sure, I am very grateful.